Eddie Sefko, Mavericks beat writer for SportsDayDFW.com and The Dallas Morning News, answered questions about the team during a live chat Monday. Here are some highlights:

Any player been a pleasant surprise to you so far this season or is that too hard to say when the team's 1-10?

I think you'd have to say Devin Harris. Minute-for-minute, he's playing better than anybody else on the team right now. And you're right. When you are 1-10, it's hard for anybody to be a pleasant surprise.

If everybody is healthy, who do you think the best 5 are the Mavs could run out there?

DSJ, Curry, Dirk, Barnes and Matthews. With maybe Devin Harris in the mix for either Matthews or Curry. And when you put it like that, you realize why this team is 1-10. They have the same team from last season, with the exception of Smith for either Yogi Ferrell or J.J. Barea. No wonder they haven't seen improvement in the bottom line.

Who is the most underrated team in the NBA?

When I think of underrated, I think of a team like Denver, which has been virtually forgotten in the preseason and the first few weeks of the regular season. But with Millsap on board and decent talent around Jokic, that team is going to be fighting for playoff positioning.

How do you think Rick Carlisle likes coaching this team vs a title team in 2011?

The idea that it's always more fun when you win is a little outdated. Sure, the mood is better, but coaching a bad team into a mediocre team can be just as rewarding as coaching a great team. Carlisle doesn't change gears. He goes with the same gusto with this team as he had with the 50-odd win teams. Maybe more because this young core is requiring more work to file off the rough edges.

If the FBI investigation of college basketball players start to show results in December, would the players who are identified be able to sign with the G League immediately? Or would they have to go overseas?

That's a great question and I confess I don't have an authoritative answer. My gut tells me that the NBA doesn't want to start down that slippery slope of having a lot of kids come straight from high school or leaving college before their freshmen seasons are over and jumping into the G-League. Overseas is a possibility, but you're probably talking about a very small number of players. Less than five, I would guess. We'll see how this plays out, but I suspect that investigation is going to drag on and on.